Accessibility Links

Alchemy to make £200m on £1 firm

THE private-equity group Alchemy Partners is poised to make a stunning return on its investment in CompAir, the firm it bought for just £1 in 2002.

Alchemy has appointed NM Rothschild to sell CompAir, which manufactures compressed air and gas systems, and has slapped a price tag of more than £200m on the business.

When it bought CompAir from engineering company Invensys five years ago, the firm was making an operating loss of £12m. Invensys took a big loss on the sale of the firm, which it had bought for £78m in 1985.

Since then, CompAir, which has nearly 2,000 staff worldwide and supplies major companies such as Jaguar and Saint-Gobain, has undergone a radical transformation.